Super-Meng Brown giant Panda-not only did photo also dilute the dark circles, the retro tone of the high-grade atmosphere

The giant panda is China's national treasure, has always been in black and white, but there are rare exceptions. As a result of some genetic mutation, some giant pandas will appear brown or brown, like wearing a special coat ...

Is the giant panda not black and white? It may sound strange, but there are actually more than one brown giant panda. The World Nature Foundation (WWF) is the panda's moving image as a symbol, Black-and-white color simple and beautiful, but this is not the only color of the panda.

The brown panda, named "Seven", was only 2 months old. In November 2009, an employee of the Foping Nature Reserve found seven in the Qinling Mountains. A distinctive color makes it easy to distinguish it from several other cubs.

At the time of discovery, the young seven had only 2 kilograms of weight, weak or even unable to move around, and its eyes were not open. For better protection, the mother and other cubs are carefully captured and relocated to the panda Sanctuary in Shaanxi province.

After being sent to the protected area, the seven were well developed and have now reached the weight of healthy adult individuals. The Conservation Center's researchers plan to breed seven offspring next year, but it is unclear whether its offspring will inherit its distinctive fur color. Scientists have not yet understood exactly why the body color changes in giant pandas.

The first brown panda named "Danny", also found in the Foping area. Daniel was sent to the Giant Panda Research Center, and ordinary black and white giant panda mating, and eventually gave birth to 3 normal color offspring, but unfortunately died.

Despite the fact that seven of them look strong, the panda's cub mortality rate is high. Given the small size of the qinling Giant Panda isolated population (estimated at 200 to 300), scientists speculate that inbreeding may be the cause of the Brown giant Panda. Of course, things are not so simple, because most of the pandas living in the Qinling Mountains have been mixed with some brown fur.

The discovery of brown fur, as well as the differences in bone structure with the more common pandas in Sichuan, prompted scientists to declare in 2005 that the Qinling Giant Panda is a unique subspecies of the giant panda: Ailuropoda melanoleuca qinlingensis. The skull of Giant panda in Qinling Mountain is relatively small, but the molar is larger.

The researcher of Zhejiang University has put forward the hypothesis that the gene controlling black of giant panda is dominant, but the gene controlling brown is recessive. Because it is a recessive gene, the presence of a Brown giant panda must be a gene for both parents. However, the probability of such a situation is very small, so brown, Brown giant pandas are very rare, only in qinling some isolated population.

Fang also noted that "qinling also molded other brown mammal subspecies, such as the Qinling Takin (Golden takin)". So the appearance of brown or brown fur may not only be limited to a species of giant pandas, but perhaps Qinling's unique environmental factors have created this rarity.

In the past thousands of years, the giant panda has not only fallen sharply, but its original habitat has been gradually fragmented as a result of the expansion of human activity. The Qinling Mountains are one of 5 mountains that still have wild pandas, while Brown pandas only appear in this area. If inbreeding is the cause of the change in hair color, there may be similar phenomena in other giant panda distributions, but no such observation has been reported.

Until now, these brown giant pandas are still a difficult puzzle, which is a big challenge for giant panda researchers and biologists around the world. But for the general public, the sight of the Brown panda is undoubtedly an eye-opener, and a curious pleasure.